scott is off. i'm jeff glor. five days before the fiscal deadline, there is plenty of name calling but little evidence there is late word of a meeting tomorrow between president obama and congressional leaders. the full senate reconvened today. the president ended his vacation in hawaii early, flying back to washington this morning. but he made no public statements. if there is no deal on a budget by new year's day, nearly every american will see a tax increase. we have two reports on the stalemate, beginning with nancy cordes on capitol hill. nancy. >> reporter: jeff, democratic aides tell cbs news that senate majority leader harry reid is ready to introduce legislation that would avert the fiscal cliff, but only if he gets assurances from republican leaders that they won't try to block it. that standoff is creating some tension on capitol hill that spilled on to the senate floor today. >> the senate will come to order. >> reporter: in the normally genteel senate, leader reid unleashed a tirade today about

house speaker john boehner, accusing him of running a dictatorship in the house. >> speaker boehner is not willing to negotiate. we have not heard a word from leader mcconnell. nothing is happening. >> reporter: mitch mcconnell, the top republican in the senate, said it's reid who hasn't reached out for weeks. >> the phone never rang. and so now here we are, five days from the new year, and we might finally start talking. >> reporter: but talking about what? so far, reid has not introduced the scaled-down bill he was reportedly working on over the christmas holiday. sources say that bill would extend the bush-era tax cuts for americans making less than $250,000 a year. with the clock ticking, reid pointed a finger at the house of representatives, which still hasn't returned to washington. >> i can't imagine their consciences. they're out wherever they are around the country, and we're here trying to get something done.

>> reporter: from his home in ohio, speaker boehner called on the house to come back this sunday, december 30. that's just one day before the fiscal cliff deadline when income tax cuts and payroll tax cuts are set to expire, $110 billion worth of spending cuts kick in, and two million jobless americans lose their unemployment benefits. for the first time, leader reid said today that it looks like the nation is going to go over the fiscal cliff, but that may just have been bluster, jeff, to try to put more pressure on republicans. >> glor: so, nancy, the house coming back on sunday. is that a good sign? >> reporter: well, it is in the sense that if the senate does manage to pass something, the house would be here to vote on it, as well. originally, speaker boehner had told his members that he would give them 48 hours' notice if they were needed back here at the capitol, but there was a recognition, i think, that it just looked bad for the house to be gone when we were so close to the fiscal cliff deadline.

>> glor: nancy cordes, thank you. major garrett has been following developments at the white house. major, what is the president's next move? >> reporter: it is not a breakthrough but it is a glimmer of hope. officials tell cbs news the president will meet with harry reid, mitch, house speaker john boehner, democratic leader nancy pelosi tomorrow afternoon at the white house. to try to find out if there is a way to avert the fiscal cliff. today, after the president returned from his vacation in hawaii, he did meet with his senior advisors. they did conduct some back- channel negotiations as they have been during the holidays on a bill to possibly avert the fiscal cliff. those talks i'm told did not make much progress. the face-to-face conversations may fact create the possibility of a breakthrough. but right now the president has no new proposals to give his congressional leaders. he will stick with what he told the nation on friday-- raise income taxes for households earning more than $250,000, extend unemployment benefits for

those americans out of work for more than six months, and try to find some other means to avert the fiscal cliff before that deadline, and tomorrow, may give us a glimmer of hope but as i said, the white house does not consider this a breakthrough, but everyone is and will be talking. >> glor: major garrett at the white house. thank you. all of this uncertainty is already affecting the economy. today, a closely watched business group reported consumer confidence has declined for a second straight month, a sign americans may continue to hold back on spending. consumers won't like what they see at the supermarket if congress doesn't pass a new farm bill by january 1. milk prices could double to $7 a gallon or higher. john blackstone tonight explains why. >> who wants milk? >> me! >> reporter: with four children, the rasmussen family of los angeles drinks about five gallons of milk a week. if congress fails to pass a farm bill, they may end up spending an extra $120 a month on milk. that has dad sean rasmussen worried.

>> we will not cut back on milk. they have to have their milk. we might have to cut elsewhere. >> reporter: without new legislation, government price supports for milk will revert to 1949 levels. back then, the process was more laborious, and farmers needed a higher subsidy to cover their costs. dan summer, professor of agricultural economics at the university of california davis, says the new price of milk will be far above what it now costs dairy farmers to produce it. >> it really will be just chaos. nobody really knows how to act. >> reporter: so we would go back to this old farm bill, which would force the government to buy milk at an extremely high price. >> that's right. >> reporter: this could be a windfall for dairy farmers. >> here's the problem for dairy farmers: they don't want chaos in the milk market. it sounds good-- "gee, everybody will double or triple the price"-- but how much milk would people buy at that price? >> reporter: nobody will pay it. >> nobody will pay it. >> reporter: shoppers for milk today couldn't understand why congress can't at least solve

this problem. linda vella: >> they all need to be fired. and if we want to continue to eat, the bill needs to be passed. that's where we get our food, people. >> reporter: we called the department of agriculture, and they say they have no backup plan to avoid this scenario. in terms of a price increase, a spokesman told us, jeff, that they have no timetable for when or if that will happen. >> glor: john blackstone, thank you. hawaii's new senator was sworn in on capitol hill today. brian schatz succeeds daniel inouye, who died last week, who was 88. schatz, who is 40, is a democrat. he had been hawaii's lieutenant governor. >> late word retired general norman schwarzkopf, who led the 1991 desert storm operation has di died in tampa florida. schwarzkopf when his outside personality and booming voice became a household name as america americans push iraqi

forced out of kuwait. he was only the ninth u.s. general to be knighted. george h.w. bush called the general a true american patriot and one of the great military leaders of his generation. norman schwarzkopf was 78 years old. the white house today says president obama is keeping a close eye on a possible strike by longshoremen. union leaders for nearly 15,000 dock workers at every port from texas to maine say they'll walk off the job on sunday. we asked anna werner to find out how a strike would hurt the u.s. economy. >> reporter: the port of houston handles 42 million tons of cargo every year. it extended its hours this week to try and get shipments in and out before a strike can bring the port to a standstill. jim gillis is vice president of gulf intermodal services, a container trucking company. >> we've seen a dramatic increase in volumes and congestion as a result. >> reporter: what happens if they can't get all the goods out of the port?

>> you have containers being held in yards around the houston area, specifically, so you're going to see stores are going to have problems stocking. >> reporter: negotiations between the international longshoremen's union and the shipping companies are deadlocked over a proposal to cut royalties paid to 15,000 dock workers for each ton of cargo they move. a shutdown would affect 15 ports on the east and gulf coasts, including new york, baltimore, miami and houston. the ports handle nearly 50% of all oceangoing container shipments to the united states. some estimate a shutdown could cost a billion dollars a day in delayed shipments and lost work along the supply chain. independent truck driver jose espinoza hauls shipments in and out of houston's port. >> next week, it means i'm going to be out of business. that's because if i don't work, i don't get paid. bottom line is, everybody is worried about it. and if the strike happens, we're

going to be in trouble, financially speaking. >> reporter: there are just two days left for both sides to negotiate here, jeff. the contract expires 12:01 a.m. sunday, but 100 companies have asked the president to intervene if talks fail. >> glor: so, anna, how exactly would the president intervene? >> reporter: jeff, federal law allows the president to intervene in a labor dispute if it's declared a national emergency. now, president george w. bush used that power in 2002 to end an 11-day lockout of dock workers on the west coast, a lockout that was deemed too damaging to the economy. >> glor: anna werner, thank you. that massive winter storm that impacted two-thirds of the country is dumping snow on maine tonight. the same system spawned tornadoes in the south and blizzards in the midwest. it is blamed for 16 deaths in the past three days. wales, new york, got 15 inches

of snow; goreville, illinois, 14 inches; elletsville, indiana, 13. more than 600 flights were canceled today. a major airline is hiring, you might be surprised who is applying for work; and a volcano erupts, but some who live nearby refuse to evacuate-- when the "cbs evening news" continues. [ woman ] dear cat, your hair mixes with pollen and dust. i get congested. but now, with zyrtec-d®, i have the proven allergy relief of zyrtec®, plus a powerful decongestant. zyrtec-d® lets me breath freer, so i can love the air. [ male announcer ] zyrtec-d®. behind the pharmacy counter. no prescription needed. aww man. [ male announcer ] returns are easy with free pickup from the u.s. postal service. we'll even drop off boxes if you need them. visit usps.com pay, print, and have it picked up for free.

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>> glor: we got more encouraging >> glor: we got more encouraging news today about the job market. the government reported 350,000 americans filed for unemployment benefits last week. that's down 12,000 from the week before. the four-week average of 356,000 is the lowest in nearly five years. and there are signs that companies are beginning to step up their hiring. american airlines is one of them. it's being flooded with applications. we asked mark strassmann to tell us about the people applying right now for work. >> reporter: american airlines announced in october it was hiring 1,500 new flight attendants. 20,000 applicants responded-- so many, american stopped taking resumes after eight days. these candidates had to pass a telephone interview before being invited this month to the airline's world headquarters in fort worth. ( applause ) >> i was unemployed for over a year.

>> reporter: yoon eom is 25, a college grad and a new u.s. citizen, but in this room, she had a competitive edge-- she speaks english, spanish and her native korean. >> they're launching a direct flight to korea starting in may, and i was like, "oh, my gosh. this is my only chance!" >> reporter: the 20,000 applicants included many college graduates who have had trouble finding work in a tight job market. american will pay its new flight attendants, on average, $23,000 a year. they'll have to work longer hours and pay more for medical benefits than flight attendants who have recently retired from the bankrupt airline. >> you will have an opportunity to learn-- >> reporter: laura aranda is 45 and ready to try something new. >> unlike an office setting, where you go in and it's the same thing, same thing thing, this is a new experience and challenge every day. >> reporter: she's an administrative assistant willing to take a $10,000 pay cut to become a flight attendant. >> i mean, you always want to get paid more, but if you love

what you do, then money is just kind of something that's back there. >> reporter: american e-mailed aranda today. she got the job. the airline has also hired yoon eom. they'll both begin nine weeks of training next month. delta airlines, headquartered here in atlanta, announced last week it was also hiring flight attendants. 400 jobs, 22,000 applications. jeff, two more applications every minute. >> glor: mark, have we ever seen these sort of airline numbers before? >> reporter: actually, a couple of years ago, jeff, the numbers were more dramatic. delta was hiring 1,000 and had 100,000 applications. and remember, in 2010, the job market was even tougher. >> glor: mark strassmann, thank you. in nicaragua, a volcano erupted this week, sending ash thousands of feet in the air. authorities ordered anyone within two miles to evacuate, but several hundred families refused to leave. they said they don't believe they're in any danger. this volcano last erupted in

september. >> new technology is boosting u.s. oil production. we'll take you to a boomtown flush with cash. that story is next. me#>

>> glor: with just a few days to go, 2012 will likely set a record high for gas prices. a.a.a. says the average was $3.61 a gallon nationwide this year. that is ten cents more than in 2011. that surge in prices came even

though oil production is booming in this country. the u.s. is forecast to overtake saudi arabia as the world's largest oil producer by 2020. ben tracy visited one of america's new boomtowns. >> reporter: in the middle of a colorado cornfield, sandwiched between cattle and farmhouses, is the front line of an american oil boom. >> we plan to invest over $8 billion over the next five years here, so we're extremely excited. >> reporter: mike dickinson works for noble energy, which is doubling its production in weld county. this oil field stretches from colorado into wyoming. in 2008, it produced 83,000 barrels of oil, yet this year it is expected to reach nearly ten million barrels. how different is the technology that we're seeing here today versus what you were doing out here a couple of years ago? >> it's unrecognizable today compared to what we were doing just two or three years ago. >> reporter: oil companies used to mainly drill vertical wells, hitting one pool of oil. but now they are rapidly

converting to horizontal wells up to a mile long and combining them with fracking operations which split open rocks, releasing oil once considered out of reach. and one drilling rigs can now install multiple wells in one location, making it more cost- efficient. a horizontal well produces seven to ten times more oil than a vertical well. >> today, we're not running any vertical rigs, and we're running eight horizontals. >> reporter: so this really is the future of what you're doing out here. >> it is. >> reporter: the industry insists fracking is safe but is worried about an upcoming e.p.a. report that could heighten environmental concerns over water contamination from fracking, and the two to ten million gallons of fresh water it takes to operate one horizontal well. jason bane works for western resource advocates. >> once that water goes into the ground and is mixed with the other chemicals, it's poison, essentially. it has to be disposed of. the overall concern is, we don't know enough to be going ahead this quickly with fracking.

>> reporter: the technology is dramatically boosting overall u.s. oil production, which is up 25% from 2008 and expected to jump another 30% by the end of this decade. the oil boom has created 1.7 million jobs. it's also made places such as greeley, colorado, flush with cash. >> this really has been a godsend to our county. >> reporter: sean conway is a commissioner in weld county, where 50% of the budget is now funded by oil and gas taxes. >> it allows us to pay for things in cash. >> reporter: so it's not an understatement to say that you love your friends in the oil and gas industry. >> uh... we... uh... like them very much. >> reporter: and out in the cornfield, the drilling continues, another 11 million barrels per day closer to catching the saudis and russians. ben tracy, cbs news, greeley, colorado. >> glor: we learned today that soul singer fontella bass has died. ♪ even if you don't recognize the name, you likely recognize this

song that made her famous. >> ♪ come on, baby and rescue me. ♪ >> glor: bass recorded "rescue me" in 1965. it reached number one on the r&b charts. she was from a family of musicians and began singing at age six. fontella bass suffered a heart attack three weeks ago and died yesterday in st. louis. she was 72. >> ♪ can't you see that i'm lonely? rescue me. ♪ >> glor: they retired and then went to work. their pet project is a lifeline for the disabled. that story is next. lifeline for the disabled. gets even better. the beaches and waters couldn't be more beautiful. take a boat ride or just lay in the sun. enjoy the wildlife and natural beauty. ç and don't forget our amazing seafood. so come to the gulf, t time. especially in alabama. you mean mississippi. that's florida.

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was ripped off... long afte died. next. finally tonight, this is the season of giving. in one tiny midwest town, people are creating gifts that change lives all over the world. here's dean reynolds. >> reporter: there's a quiet that usually settles over the cornfields of iowa this time of year, but not in leighton, population 150. here, two or three times a week local retirees come with a renewed purpose in their lives. >> how's it going, guys? >> reporter: bill bruxvoort used to run one of the town's banks. >> it's unbelievable how much response we've had. it's almost more than we can handle. >> reporter: all retirees?

>> all retirees, nd they all get paid the same. >> reporter: nothing. >> nothing. >> reporter: they get paid nothing to create what are called p.e.t.s, short for personal energy transportation, a hand-powered tricycle wagon designed for the disabled in the developing world. >> most people would be just put away in a closet or in a bed somewhere because it was deemed if you were disabled that you were cursed. that really touched my heart. i thought, you know, there's something we should do about that. >> reporter: his group is part of an international organization that has shipped the p.e.t.s to more than 85 countries. >> can you go faster? >> reporter: the component parts are crafted here at bruxvoort's shop and then assembled, painted and shipped to pete verhey's on the other side of town. you guys are like the elves. >> a little bit. we have elves all over the place. >> this machine allows them to go get water at the river, go to school if it's a child, you know.

some use them to make a little bit of income, you know. $3 a day income to someone in haiti is huge. >> reporter: ten-year-old jevaleen benjamin lives in haiti, and she had been getting around on a broken wheelchair until she received her new p.e.t. and while it's 2,000 miles from haiti to leighton, iowa, bruxvoort says the tangible results of his work shorten the distance. >> i feel like we're not doing enough. i'd like to do more. but to be able to do something for other people is just so rewarding. >> want me to tell you a joke? [ laughter ] >> reporter: for these old men, generosity truly is its own reward. dean reynolds, cbs news, leighton, iowa. >> that is the "cbs evening news" tonight. for scott pelley, i'm jeff glor. i'll see you tomorrow on "cbs this morning." good night. captions by: caption colorado comments@captioncolorado.com >> your realtime captioner: linda marie macdonald.

good evening, i'm elizabeth cook. >> i'm allen martin. they say the first step is admitting you have a problem. and tonight oakland city leaders have done exactly that. three -- three months ago they acknowledged there is no plan to reduce crime now they admit they need one and recruited a name you might recognize to make it happen. da lin reports on the grim 2012. >> reporter: it's been tough in the city of oakland. they acknowledge crime and they have made two major announcements this afternoon. one is that they will hire los angeles former -- former los angeles police chief bill bratton as a paid consultant and, two of the city of oakland going back to neighborhood policing. they hope those two ideas, those two plans will cut down on crime in oakland. both oakland mayor jean quan and police chief howard jordan say

crime in oakland is out of control. 127 homicides so of this year the highest since 2007. 1 -- 127 homicide so far this year the highest since 2007. >> we agree with the community i see that the crime rate is absolutely unacceptable. >> we have to do something. we have done a lot last year, we have to try something different. >> reporter: they admit they need help. they announced bill bratton and bob was your man will serve as paid consultants to the police department. bill bratton most recently left the los angeles police department. he was also the police commissioner in new york city and boston. chief jordan says among bratton's response, to improve and strengthen oakland's com stat model a model which uses crime statistics to prioritize resources. he created the crime-fighting strategy. chief jordan also plans to reimplement neighborhood policing. it was done about five years ago but failed. the chief says what'ff